14 DAY TRIAL // The Creative Assembly is trying to make sure that it does not disappoint fans of the classic Alien movies with its upcoming Isolation title, but recent statements from one of the leaders of the team might have upset another large group of players with recent comments.
Garry Napper, a lead game designer at the studio, is quoted by CVG as saying that, “we have a big long story that folds out. Also it’s a bit like a Metroidvania game where you have a linear story you go through but you can also go back and explore areas you’ve been to. You can go back to areas and find new things, explore and open up new areas. There’s a lot to do in the world.”
He was explaining why Alien: Isolation would take no longer than 15 hours to complete when it came to the main story, which would have Amanda Ripley working through a supposedly abandoned space station in order to try and find clues about the fate of her mother.
Metroidvania refers to a mix of mechanics from classic Metroid and Castlevania titles and its fans tend to react rather angrily when other titles try to use the same kind of concepts.
The best known examples of the genre are Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.
Napper adds, “The difficult thing is nailing a time because people can play for absolutely ages without even seeing the alien because they’re being really careful and really stealthy, they’ve done nothing to call him down or there have been no explosions that he has come to investigate. Those people can get through it fairly quickly.”
I played Alien: Isolation during E3 2014 and I was impressed by the atmosphere that The Creative Assembly managed to create for the game, even if the difficulty level might be a little high at the moment.
Hiding and moving around silently are crucial and the player needs to carefully explore in order to find resources before he tries to get away from the xenomorph.
The company has taken special care to create a game that is as close as possible to the Alien movies, while also using the main gameplay mechanics of the survival horror genre.
Alien: Isolation is set to be launched on October 7 of this year on the PC, the PlayStation 4 from Sony, the PS3, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the older 360.